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Magical Princess Minky Momo

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Magical Princess Minky Momo is a classic Magical Girl franchise that began with a 1982 anime and includes a manga series, several OVA specials, a feature film, a follow-up anime series in 1991, and a 30th anniversary stage musical. Known internationally as Gigi, the anime became popular in France, Italy and Latin America, but had never gotten an official American release outside of a heavily altered version of the film until 2015, when William Winckler Productions acquired Harmony Gold's Minky Momo series and made it into several Amazon Instant Video-exclusive compilation movies. note The first 52 episodes of the original series had been translated by Harmony Gold under the title "The Magical World of Gigi", but did not manage to net a TV deal in the US and were instead used as the basis for several international adaptations bearing the Gigi name. The English dub did briefly air in Australia through 1986-1988, but never saw home video release.

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Though often overlooked outside of Japan, Minky Momo is among the most influential anime in its genre. It was also the first magical girl series not made by Toei Animation, which had heretofore virtually owned the genre (unless one counts Majokko Tickle which was made by Toei's main company with studios other than Toei Animation providing animation production).

In the 1982 anime, the magical land of Fenarinarsa is where the characters of humanity's fairy tales dwell. But as humans lose touch with their dreams, Fenarinarsa is in danger of disappearing. To prevent that, the king and queen send their 12-year-old daughter Momo to Earth, tasking her with reviving the hopes and dreams of mankind.

Momo manifests on Earth as the daughter of a young childless couple who run a pet store and care center. Momo brings along her dog Shindobook, her monkey Mocha and her bird Pipiru. The Minky Stick in her pendant gives her the power to transform into an adult version of herself, complete with whichever skill set and outfit are appropriate for the situation at hand (nurse, police officer, etc.).

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Every time Momo succeeds in bringing happiness to a given person, a new jewel appears in the Fenarinarsa crown. Once the crown has 12 jewels, Fenarinarsa will return to Earth's surface.

In 1985, the movie La Ronde in my dream was released. Though usually considered an OVA, La Ronde was given a theatrical premiere. The story takes place sometime before episode 46 of the first series and sees Momo on an adventure to rescue her parents after their airplane crash lands on a mysterious island. Adapted to English as Magical Princess Gigi and the Fountain of Youth.

A follow-up series was made in 1991, Magical Princess Minky Momo: Hold on to Your Dreams (魔法のプリンセス ミンキー モモ: 夢を抱きしめて), which follows a new Minky Momo from the undersea dream kingdom Marinarsa. This Momo also lives with human foster parents and three pets, but is not limited in her transformations and can become nearly anything, and she also has the ability to cast spells. This series is not an alternate continuity, and the two Momos even meet up on several occasions.

The last Minky Momo anime were the 1993 OVA The Bridge Over Dreams and the 1994 OVA The Station of Your Memories, both of which take place after the end of the second series and have a decidedly wistful tone.

Biting-the-Hand Humor: When toys for the series weren't selling well overseas, the toy company that sponsored the series pulled their support. In episode 46 of the first series, which could have been the final episode, Momo is run down and killed by a toy delivery truck.

Episode 53 of the second series is a scathing satire of the anime industry. Momo visits an anime production company where animators frequently work themselves into comas in the hopes they'll eventually be able to make anime with their own Original Characters. The character of the week Momo needs to help is such an overworked animator. He dies at the end.

Disney Death: Infamously, before Momo can claim the Fenarinarsa crown's final gem, she loses her magic powers, is hit by a truck, and dies. However, she is reincarnated as her Earth family's daughter, now a real human without ties to Fenarinarsa.

Strangely, the second series has Momo almost die in trafficlike in the first series. Several times. You can thank the human Momo (the one from Fenarinarsa) for rescuing her from this in the last episode, but the first time she rescued Momo from danger was when a satellite of Fenarinarsa exploded, possibly due to the fact that the Marinarsa Momo used her magic to save the Fenarinarsa Momo from being hit by a truck during the first time the two met.

Dub Name Change: Momo is called "Gigi" in most international adaptations, with their scripts based from the failed TV dub by Harmony Gold (who only managed to commercially release "La Ronde in my Dream" in the US).

Sindbook, Mocha, and Pipil had their names respectively changed to "Bonkers", "Coco", and "Yum-Yum" as well in some of the dubs note while the French dub keeps Sindbook and Pipil's names, but changes Mocha to "Chacha". In the La Ronde in My Dream English dub, Mocha keeps her name, Sindbook became Bonkers, and Pipil became "Tweety".

Also, the nude transformation sequence in the original 1982 series. While not explicit or frontal, one can still briefly glimpse Momo's 18-year-old alter ego's nude rear end. Certainly no big deal in Japan, but not surprisingly, the English dub of the 1985 La Ronde OVA shortens this sequence to remove the rear-end shot.

Fictional Country: Most countries in Minky Momo are called by names like Somewhere, Some Country, and Our Country, though occasionally countries will have more realistic names such as Liechtenburg.

Homage: Several throughout the series. Many characters are based on classic fairy tales, though episodes will often contain pop culture references to anime and movies. The series as a whole is loosely based on the legend of Momotaro.

Inconsistent Dub: Somewhat zigzagged with the William Winckler Minky Momo movies: Although the movies are called "Minky Momo", the footage used actually refers to the character as Gigi, which each description mentions in parenthesis.

Muggle Foster Parents: Though in Momo's case, she's aware all along who her real parents are, and why she's in a foster family. Her foster parents, however, have been magicked to think that she's always been their daughter.

Sudden Musical Ending: Episode 48 of the first series ends with all the characters who had appeared in the series so far dancing and singing the show's theme song. It'd make more sense if it had been the actual finale.

Swiss Army Tears: The dragon Kajira is revealed in the final episode to be formed from the tears of all the people on Earth who cried at Momo's death.

Theme Tune Cameo: The transformation sequence in the first half of the second series has an instrumental version of Dreaming Heart, the opening for the first half of the second series.

In some episodes with the Fenarinarsa Momo in the second series, the Fenarinarsa Momo would sing "Love Love Minky Momo" at a random point in the episode.

Tuckerization: In the Harmony Gold dub and overseas adaptations based on their scripts, Momo was given the name "Gigi", after the nickname for Jehan Agrama (one of the producers, who had also worked on Robotech).

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